October thoughts

September for me is a wonderful month filled with the last few days of summer combined with pennant races in baseball and the start of football. Unfortunately, October doesn't carry the same type of hope and overall joy as September. The reason being is that by then baseball playoff races have been decided and slowly teams start realizing that this is not their year. In football October can mean the end of many football seasons (especially in college football) before you even really got a chance to get excited. In the end September is about hope and October is about reality.

For me this October was ushered in by the White Sox defeating the Twins 1-0 in a one game playoff that I will haunt Twins fans because of missed opportunities (during the season or the game) and the injustice of having to play in the Cell. The "summer of stun" is over and my 6th row lower-level division series tickets are still mocking me from the door of my fridge. In football the Dolphins are 1-2, which amazingly is cause for celebration in Dolphins *land.

*I refuse to call everything Nation. Just cause there is Red Sox Nation, doesn't mean there is Dodger Nation, Cubs Nation, Patriot Nation, Redhawk Nation, or anything else.

Anyway, here are some thoughts that I guarantee will make you laugh, cry, and want to write in my comments section (broken into Random and Ben/Laurie's visit) or your money back.

Random

• What do you say to a coworker (not a coworker and a friend, but just a coworker) when that coworker is leaving the company? I find it social appropriate to say that "we will definitely meet up." or "you have my email address so stay in contact." Does anybody actually believe that they will stay in contact with these coworkers? More importantly does anybody actually ask "Will you really stay in contact with us?" to the departing coworker?
• I feel like exclamation points are a 50/50 proposition. Half of the time they are used to mean excitement or emphasis. The other half of the time they are used to be "sorority polite." For example if you ask someone to do something and they respond with "That sounds like so much fun! Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it because..." then they really don't think it sounds like fun and there is a better than average odds that they would rather watch 27 dresses 27 times before they took you up on your offer to do something.
• Is it weird to anyone else when people over the age of 25 use smiley faces in IM conversations? First off I thought IM had an expiration date around junior year of college. Now, I am finding out that not only are middle-aged people using them, but they are writing messages to colleagues as if they are two 13 year old girls excited about the Jonas Brothers being on TRL later. :D
• If Sarah Palin was a MN state senator after the North Stars left, I have no doubt that she would have been able to bring back hockey. Also, I have no doubt that she would look better than Norm Coleman.
• Did you know that Forbes came out with a list of college rankings. If you care about that sort of thing you should check it out. Here are some quick highlights: 1. Princeton 12. Wabash 23. Stanford 57. Kalamazoo College 80. Duke 87. St. Olaf 111. UCLA 120. Washington and Jefferson College 121. Cornell 197. Ole Miss 275. University of Idaho (school of Sarah Palin) 276. Miami University (school of this blogger) 292. The Ohio St. University. 524. University of Minnesota. Seriously? I mean I am all for a new ranking list to compete against the US News and World Reports, but can you really take one that has Kalamazoo College over Cornell seriously?
• Nfl fans - Here is the tv map for the year. Click on the link if you want to see what games you will be seeing in your area on Sunday.
• I was trained in the Worldwide Leader of Cheap Chic to be relentlessly positive. No matter what happened you were supposed to present yourself and the information as if it was the great thing since the Rosetta Stone. Anyway, when you read an article like "The Power of Negative Thinking" you realize that maybe there are certain advantages to being the Eeyore of the group.

The two college friends that got married just over a month ago (see Lake Geneva post) came to visit me and the Twin Cities this past weekend. From that weekend I have a few thoughts:

Ben/Laurie's visit

• 3 different couples were getting their engagement pictures at Minnehaha Falls this past Saturday. Of course Ben, Laurie, M and I had to make fun of them by recreating their pictures.
• The Cherry and the Spoon was also a popular photo site on Saturday. This time it was a bunch of high schoolers taking pictures before what I can only assume would be their homecoming dance. This was an age-defining moment because the group of us all agreed that if we were there parents of the girls in this group they would not have been allowed out of the house with what they were wearing. When do you get to the point where you start to relate more to parents than the kids? I mean I remember a time when I used to always put myself in the kids shoes. Now, I am more likely to take the parents side of things when it comes to "kids these days."
• Apple picking = not as bad I thought. This is especially true considering that you can buy apple butter and apple bread.
• Brave New Workshop has a really funny show for anybody who lives in the Twin Cities area and has been following along with the political scene. It is the funniest thing this side of having Tina Fey in your living room.
• The wedding video was a success for both sides. Ben and Laurie got a video memory of their wedding. I got Southern Comfort and a book on Baseball parks. I think that is a fair trade.

Stay tuned on the blog for a Nationals Park review. I am in the process of writing it and just need to sit down and complete the post and upload the pictures.